my microcosm

Punk USA: The Rise and Fall of Lookout Records

Through hundreds of exclusive and original interviews, Punk USA documents the empire that was built overnight as Lookout launched a teenaged Green Day, sold millions of records, and rode the wave of the second coming of punk rock until it all came crashing down.

In 1987, Lawrence Livermore founded independent punk label Lookout Records to release records by his band The Lookouts. Forming a partnership with David Hayes, the label released some of the most influential recordings from California’s East Bay punk scene. Originally operating out of a bedroom, Lookout created "The East Bay Punk sound,” with bands such as Crimpshrine, Operation Ivy, The Mr. T Experience, and many more. The label helped to pave the way for future punk upstarts and as Lookout grew, young punk entrepreneurs used the label as a blueprint to try their hand at record pressing. As punk broke nationally in the mid 90s the label went from indie outfit to having more money than it knew how to manage, and the label struggled as much with success as it did from any other difficulty. Kevin Prested chronicles it all even-handedly, through interviews and a careful combing of the records. This definitive book is perfect for anyone who is curious about the the unlikely, improbable inside scoop on how musical careers are made and unmade.

Comments/Reviews

Riot 771/15/2016

“…Reading this book made me comprehend the considerable volume of releases from the label that I’ve enjoyed over the years…Their story is captivating and emblematic of a tie in the 1990’s when labels like this seemed almost invincible. Highly recommended!"

Suspect Press Zine1/11/2016

"Punk USA details every twist and turn in the story with author Kevin Prested's prose interspersed with large sections of quotes from one-time Lookout! employees and bands...it expounds both the pitfalls of running a mall business based on ideals, enthusiasm, and naivety, and what happens to those principles when their inundated with tens of millions of dollars."

Stomp and Stammer9/15/2015

"Kevin Prested's Punk USA: The Rise and Fall of Lookout! Records chronicles the whole convoluted story in less than 200 pages...chock full of good dirt and constellation of punkers who seemed like big stars to readers of Maximum Rock'N'Roll"

Trust8/6/2015

"[I]f you are a fan of Lookout, after all they created or documented "The East Bay Punk sound,” with bands such as Crimpshrine, Operation Ivy, The Mr. T Experience, and many more, you should read this book, since it will be good entertainment..."

Scanner Zine7/28/2015

"This is pretty hard to fault; Prested has created something that is easy to read but packed with information, that is gripping yet not slanderous and that is distinctly independent at its core. If another biography on Lookout! Records is ever to be written, I cannot imagine how it could be better than this."

A well-rounded look at a label that played a leading role in formulating the sound of the 'second coming' of punk rock.

Raised by Gypsies5/15/2015

"I want to read it again and again. I want my son to read it when he's old enough. I want him to pass it down to his children to read. I want this to be the new standard for text books. I want the world to know."